Sindh govt to establish central pension cell, SC told

The Sindh government will establish a central pension cell at the services department to ensure smooth interaction with all the provincial departments so that pension papers of the government employees could be completed six months prior to retirement, the Sindh advocate general told the Supreme Court on Friday.

The court had directed the advocate general, the accountant general, the finance secretary and the services secretary to formulate a standard procedure for preparing pension cases of the government employees six months before their retirement.

Applicant Samandar Ali Hasbani had moved the court against non-payment of his pension benefits.

The three-member bench, headed by Justice Amir Hani Muslim, had observed that no mechanism had been provided in the accountant general department and other government departments to prepare pension cases of government employees so that they could get their due right on the eve of their retirement.

Sindh Advocate General Zamir Ghumro submitted that in compliance of the court directives, the finance secretary and the accountant general held meeting and finalised modes by which disbursement of pensions could be ensured timely.

He said the Sindh government would establish a central pension cell in services department that will interact with all government departments to ensure that retirement benefits and pension was issued on the date of retirement.

Besides, the court had directed the accountant general office to establish a cell for pensioners in its department and all departments were ordered to abide by the conditions framed by the provincial government in this regard.

Contractual  employees’ plea 

The Supreme Court on Friday directed the provincial government to not remove the secretary law without the court’s permission.

Hearing the application of Gulzar Rehman, the three-member bench, headed by Justice Amir Hani Muslim, directed the government to appoint regular employees on the administrative and technical posts of the law department and remove all the contractual retired employees.

The court observed that the law department outsourced its work to the private counsel who drafted the legislation.

The Sindh AG submitted that officers working on a contract-basis, including the deputy secretary, the additional secretary and a consultant, had been de-notified and their posts would be filled through regular appointments.

At last week's hearing, the SC had directed the advocate general to appoint regular employees to administrative and technical posts of the law department and remove all contractual retired employees within a week.

Hearing an application of Gulzar Rehman, a three-member bench, headed by Justice Amir Hani Muslim, asked the advocate general why retired government employees had been appointed to the department on a contract basis by the government.

It observed that appointments of retired government officers as deputy secretary, additional secretary and consultant on a contract basis would amount to their re-employment, and that could not be permitted under the law.

The bench said persons beyond 60s and 70s had been appointed on a contract basis and the system would be destroyed if regular appointments were not made.

It observed that retired government employees were also getting pension benefits, questioning the competence of such retired officers who did not even know where to put the colon or the semi-colon. Advocate General Zamir Ghumro submitted that the contracts of these employees would be over in April and October and had sought time to seek instructions.